Apple Watch battery drains after updating to watchOS 10.1

Dear all,

Let me share all the things that did NOT solve this problem and the one thing that DID solve this for me.

Background: iPhone 13 running iOS17, Apple Watch series 6, updated from WatchOS 9 directly to WatchOS 10.1.1 after which battery life dropped from 18+ hours to 8 hours, and this did not improve for several weeks.

What did NOT solve it:

• updating to iOS 17.1.1 or 17.1.2
• multiple restarts and hard resets of Apple Watch and iPhone
• deleting all third-party apps from Watch, then rebooting iPhone and Watch
• resetting all privacy and security settings (forcing each app to ask for access to location etc again)
• unpairing Watch from iPhone, then repairing with iPhone and reinstalling from the last Watch back-up

What DID solve it for me:

• unpairing Watch from iPhone, then repairing with iPhone as a new Watch.

The excessive battery drain was solved immediately. This procedure comes with great disadvantages, e.g. I lost all my watch-faces with edited choice of complications, I had to reconnect the Watch with my activity tracker app, I had to rearrange all app icons to the positions I prefer in the app viewer, I had to choose playlists of songs to be downloaded to Apple Watch again, I had to go through my Apple Watch settings and adjust these to my preferences, and probably a few more nuisances. Despite these, I am happy that my Apple Watch lasts through the day again...

I hope this helps some of you...

My series 6 is draining to 0% in 2 hours after updating to 10.1

Hi mickeddie,

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Communities. We understand your Apple Watch battery is draining quicker since the update. This article has some helpful information about battery performance: Apple Watch Battery and Performance.

Also, this article has some tips to maximize your battery performance: Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple.

"Update to the latest software.

Always make sure your Apple Watch is using the latest version of watchOS.

• To see if you need an update, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and go to My Watch > General > Software Update.
• If an update is available, connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi, attach the charger to your Apple Watch (make sure it has at least 50% charge), and update wirelessly.

Learn more about updating watchOS

Adjust your settings.

There are a few ways you can preserve battery life on your Apple Watch:

• During running and walking workouts, turn on Power Saving Mode to disable the heart rate sensor. To do this, open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, go to My Watch > Workout, and turn on Power Saving Mode. Note that when the heart rate sensor is off, calorie burn calculations may not be as accurate.
• For longer workouts, you can choose to use a Bluetooth chest strap instead of the built-in heart rate sensor. To pair the Bluetooth chest strap with your watch, make sure the strap is in pairing mode, then open Settings on Apple Watch, select Bluetooth, and choose from the list of Health Devices.
• If you’re very active with your hands and your watch display turns on more than you think it should, you can prevent the display from turning on every time you raise your wrist. Open Settings on Apple Watch, select General, select Wake Screen, and turn Wake Screen on Wrist Raise off. When you want to turn on the display, just tap it or press the Digital Crown.
• Disabling Bluetooth on your iPhone increases the battery drain on your Apple Watch. For more power-efficient communication between the devices, keep Bluetooth enabled on iPhone.

Enable Low Power Mode.

Introduced with watchOS 9, Low Power Mode is an easy way to extend the battery life of your Apple Watch when needed, for example if you’re on a long flight or find yourself without your charger for the night. You can enable it by swiping up to Control Center and tapping on the battery percentage, or by going to Settings > Battery. 

Low Power Mode prolongs battery life by turning off always-on display, limiting the cellular and Wi-Fi connections of your Apple Watch, and disabling background sensor readings including heart rate measurements, high and low heart rate notifications, irregular rhythm notifications, and blood oxygen measurements.

When not connected to your iPhone, your Apple Watch will attempt to retrieve notifications approximately once an hour. When your Apple Watch battery reaches 80% charge Low Power Mode automatically switches off."

Take care.

Hey Jeff_888,

I acknowledge the detailed instructions provided and the structured approach towards conserving battery life. However, from a healthcare perspective, I find some of these suggestions may compromise the essence and utility of the Apple Watch, particularly in monitoring vital health metrics.

The recommendation to disable the heart rate sensor, for instance, diminishes a critical feature that provides real-time feedback on an individual’s cardiovascular health. Similarly, the advice to limit cellular and Wi-Fi connections, or to resort to Low Power Mode, may hamper the timely relay of health notifications and other crucial alerts, which can be of paramount importance, especially in emergency or critical situations.

In light of the integral role that real-time health monitoring plays in today’s healthcare landscape, it’s imperative to find a balance between battery conservation and preserving the core functionalities of the Apple Watch.

It would be beneficial to delve into the root causes of the escalated battery drain following the update, aiming for optimizations in the watchOS that uphold battery efficiency without necessitating the deactivation of key health monitoring features.

Additionally how is this going to affect long term battery health? I am fearful that this will cause a significant loss of battery health/life rapidly.

Thanks for the attempt to prevent draining the battery but let’s get a real fix.

Rapidly drained,

Eric RN

This was happening to me too.

Last night I removed some 3rd party apps (MobyFace and a few others too) and today it is back to normal.

Someone in another forum suggested that MobyFace and other 3rd party apps are not battery-friendly in WatchOS 10.1.

I would say they may be right.

My watch has been off the charger for 3 hours now and I'm down to 86%. Yesterday it would have been dead already.

Hey @Jeff Donald - trust me when I say that none of this works. I had done all of the above which also included returning to the Apple Store for them to send away. The only “seen” way to resolve the battery drain issue is to simply remove a third party app called “MobyFace”. If you don’t have this app then I am not sure your next steps. Good luck to those who are impacted. This removal of MobyFace resolved the issue for me!

What is required is a forced restart of your Apple Watch. A forced restart is more than just turning your Watch off and on. Observe the battery usage for the next 24 to 72 hours. If there is no improvement you’ll need to unpair the Watch from your iPhone, force restart the Watch and the iPhone and lastly pair the two devices. Battery usage will return to normal in 24 to 72 hours.

Force restart Apple Watch - Apple Support

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

No surprise there, third party apps are a major cause of battery drain related issues.

Same response as most everyone else. In June I purchased an Apple Watch Series 8 and everything was fine with the few WatchOS updates until 10.1. I receive 10% low battery warnings around 3 hours and the battery is depleted 45 minutes or so later.

This is all ridiculous. I've got an Apple Watch Series 8, and you're saying I need to disable most of the features I purchased it for in able to use it.

I've re-paired my watch twice. I re-set it my watch as a new watch, yet even when I spend a day at home, not using music, fitness, timers, or ANYTHING, my watch is at 45% by 4:00.

I'm think I'm done.

Yeah mines the same can’t find anything on the internet as yet but needs sorting asap my watch drains from 93% to 0% in less than 2 hours

Here same issue from 100% to 0% in 2 hours😡

My Ultra watch has been having the same issue since upgrading to WatchOS 10.1. I even updated my phone to iOS 17.1 first and still have an issue. I was even having issues with it charging. I have the Apple fast charger and after 30 minutes my batter only increased by 1%. After restarting my watch, twice, that seemed to help with how slow it was charging at least. I left the house at 7 this morning at 100% and now 3 hours later I'm down to 40%, with doing nothing but wearing it.

My watch was at 100% this morning at 5:30am and hit 10% at 9am. I put it on the charger and figured it would be fine, but it died again an hour later. Now I'm watching it, on the charger, losing battery (went from 15% to 12% just now). The only thing I did was update to 10.1 this morning.

Hopefully Apple figures this out and gets it fixed ASAP....

I'm on Apple Watch 9 and I noticed significant battery drain since updating to 10.1 yesterday. My watch dies twice as fast now. So sad.